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ASR Group Sweetens its Business with SAP

Read how ASR Group is leveraging SAP Business Suite powered by SAP HANA, SAP Cloud for Sales, and SAP SuccessFactors to redefine and improve its business.

ASR Group traces its sugar know-how back six generations, when its family owners began producing cane sugar in Cuba. After the communist revolution, the family came to America and founded Florida Crystals Corporation in 1960 in South Florida.

Down the road from where Florida Crystals was constructing its sugar mill, another group of family farmers was forming the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida. The following year, the cooperative built the Glades Sugar House mill in Belle Glade. The two companies had much in common and worked closely together to keep the South Florida farming community strong.

Decades later, Florida Crystals and Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative partnered together to acquire a cane sugar refinery in Yonkers, New York. The 1998 acquisition was the base that would grow to form ASR Group, the largest cane sugar refiner in the world. The company now has the capacity to produce more than six million tons of sugar annually in seven different countries worldwide. In Florida alone, its shareholders comprise 60 percent of all raw sugar produced.

It's a Family Business

To this day, ASR Group's family values are ingrained in its core. The company is dedicated to giving back to the community. ASR Group focuses largely on ending the fight against childhood hunger. The company sponsors the "Share Our Strength Great American Bake Sale," and employees volunteer at family and community service activities throughout the year.

In addition, the company is committed to sustainable business practices. In fact, ASR Group's shareholders own and operate the largest renewable energy biomass power plant of its kind in North America. The plant is powered by sugar cane fiber and recycled urban wood waste. The plant generates clean, renewable energy that then powers sugar operations as well as tens of thousands of homes in the South Florida area.

One Company, Many Brands

ASR Group owns many well-known sugar brands including Domino®, C&H®, Florida Cystals®, Redpath®, Sidul® and Tate & Lyle®. Top company priorities include streamlining its sugar operations across the globe and managing its brand portfolio in the most efficient way possible.

In order to help fulfill those business needs, ASR Group partnered with SAP. ASR Group is simplifying the way it runs each and every area of its business, from sales processes to supply chain management to human resources to finance... all the way to the sugarcane fields.

With SAP Business Suite powered by SAP HANA hosted in the cloud, ASR Group employees are able to access all relevant business data any time, at any level of detail, in real-time. The ability to drill down to any type of data and visualize it in easily consumable formats has allowed ASR Group to transition from a transactional business to an analytical one - and the benefits are abundant.

Now business needs can be identified and solved within an hour, and by maintaining consistency across all brands, ASR Group can attempt to predict future trends, react to business requirements, and support customer needs.

Through its SAP Cloud for Sales solution, ASR Group can also gain insight into industry trends and customer information in real time from any mobile device. Sales representatives now serve as trusted advisors to customer businesses and are able to predict future trends and solve business issues faster than ever before. Watch this video interview for more details.

With SuccessFactors solutions, ASR Group can further focus on developing its people. From increased training and development programs to salary adjustments and recognition, the company has detailed insight into every aspect of employee needs and wants - and with happier, more motivated employees comes better business results.

From the field to the table

ASR Group's goal has always been to produce and deliver quality sugar products to delight its customers. Now, with the right technology to optimize its global business, ASR Group has added further value to the services it provides.

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